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Leylandii tips turning brown

JLodgeJLodge Posts: 26
in Problem solving
We recently bought and have moved into a new house with 14m of leylandii hedge (about 3m tall) on the roadside, the whole garden has been neglected as a result of the ill health of the previous owner.

We have been renovating and when I first started the tips were green, yet in the past 2 to 3 weeks the tips on every part of each plant have been turning brown and I am not sure why. There has been a fairly decent amount of rain lately. Also there is a lot of holly growing inter-mingled with the leylandii and to a much lesser extent ivy in places (which I shall remove).

It has always been the plan to trim back the branches on the roadside as they have grown out about a foot or two onto the pavement (just had a letter from the council coincidentally, getting the house sorted and moving in has been a higher priority though), there will be no green left anyway and I know that it will not come back. Hopefully the holly will take over and fill it all in. On the garden side though I would like to retain the green parts of the leylandii, but at this point it looks like that won't be an option.

I thought that perhaps it was lack of water due to all plants being affected equally, but then the holly and other nearby plants are showing no signs of drought?

Posts

  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    edited April 2022
    Have you got a photo? The tips of many conifers can look brown/red at this time of year due to them producing their seed.  :)

    Just reading your bit about ivy. If you're going to cut the outside right back and expose bare wood, it would be better to train the ivy in to cover it. At least it would then be green and can be kept trimmed to look like hedging. The holly won't necessarily cover it :)
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • JLodgeJLodge Posts: 26
    Thank you for the advice about the ivy and holly, please see below  :)



  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    No - that's down to weather and general conditions.  It may have been struggling a bit to get enough moisture right to the ends of the branches when there's a lot of other stuff there. The ivy takes a lot of moisture, and many conifers struggled in the last year or two due to very dry conditions for long periods. Conifers love lots of rain, and normally cope quite well with drier spells, but they're shallow rooted, so if there's drought conditions for long periods, it's not great for them at all. Many have died off due to it. 
    Not much you can do about that, but if you trim the hedge enough to take those off without going into the brown wood, it might rectify it well enough.  :)

    Normally, you only take off the previous year's growth once they're at the size required, so it can be difficult if the hedge has been allowed to get a bit out of hand. Most conifers are like that unfortunately. If it doesn't come away, you may have to rethink the hedge altogether. 
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • JLodgeJLodge Posts: 26
    Ah ok, I'll start watering it to save what is there. As I say on the roadside it will all be lost as the brown has come too far out, one the garden side it is further out than I would like but not the end of the world.

    I would like to leave it all in really as it encloses the back garden and we have two young kids, a fence would require planning permission and I'd rather have a hedge anyway. The front garden was a jungle with sporadic hedging, most plants were too far gone, I took them out and have planted root balled Western Red Cedar (1 - 1.25m) around the boundary and they seem to be doing well. Thank you again!
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    Fingers crossed it'll come away. The problem with watering is that it's thankless task with conifers unless you get lots of rain, because they soak up so much. 
    However, if you want to give it a good soak, do it with a hose  in at the base, for a long while, and then add a mulch of any organic matter - bark is ideal. That will help retain moisture. If they're a bit far gone however, no amount of water will solve it. 
    The cedars [thuja] are much easier to deal with because they can be pruned back harder. A mulch for those will also be beneficial, especially when drier weather ism ore consistent. Plenty of water until they're well established - a good few months at least   :)
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
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